Treating wood for the manufacture of boxes



UNrTnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HORACE THAYER, OF'VARSAWI, NEW YORK.

TREATING WOOD FOR. THE MANUFACTURE OF BOXES, CASES, &.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 45,537, dated December20,1864.

Gase B.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE THAYER, of Warsaw, in the county of Vyoming,in the State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful methodof producing ends or heads for blacking-boxes and analogous articleswhich combine the essential qualities of cheapness, stiffness, strength,impermeabilit-y, and elasticity in a higher degree than any before knownand I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exactdescription tiereof.

The cylindrical boxes `used for blacking have so little length incomparison with their diameter that the ends or heads are of muchgreater area than the cylindrical surface. rIhe temporary purpose forwhich such boxes are required and the low price at which the box withits contents must be sold at wholesale renders it desirable to employthe cheapest possible material for these heads, but they requirerigidity, and the oil y character of the blackin g necessitates the useof an impervious material.

The three patents issued to me, dated the 21st of June, 1864, set forthmeans of cheaply and rapidly securing the parts of such boxes togetherand allow the use of wood or analogous soft heads. I am now prepared todescribe fully what I find to be the best heads and my means ofproducing such with a high degree of economy.

My heads are made of soft wood. My method of manufacture leaves themplain, smooth, springy, and with their pores filled with insolublevarnish. rIhey are by far the best head yet known to me. I am nowproducing them under the present high prices of labor and material at acost to me of iive cents per hundred for the smallest heads and tencents per hundred for the largest.

To enable others skilled in the art to use my invention with success, Iwill proceed to describe in detail the operation of making heads of thesmallest ordinary size, which are about two and one-halt' inches indiameter.

I 'take newly-cut basswood, one of the softest and most easily workedwoods, and saw it into short planks or balks having a thickness a littlegreater than the diameter of the box, or about three inches and a lengthof about eighteen inches. I steam these some hours until aifectedthrough, and then by means ofa sharp knife, very thin at the edge andopen ated by power, I slice each, beginning at one edge, so as to formit int-o slabs or sheets a little more than one-sixteenth inch thick andthree inches wide. I pile these upon a rack with small sticks between,and let them stand exposed to the sun and air four days. I then transferthe racks with their contents to a drying-house heated to aboutl20OFahrenheit, more or less,) and let them remain a few hours. By this timethe material is sufficiently seasoned for the subsequent operations, andthe method adopted in dividing it has left it fiat and smooth and withits strength unimpaired, and the steaming has so far changed the na tureof the wood as to leave it more pliable and less likely to split orcheck. From these sheets the disks or heads are next cut of the desireddiameter by rapidl yrevolvin g cutters, to which cutters the wood ispresented by hand or otherwise, but I gage the cutters so that they donot cut quite through the wood. After the sheet has been thus scored ormarked out, itmay still be handled with the disks in their places,ranged in a line close together and occupying nearly its entiresubstance. A slight tap ou each, either by hand or by machinery, nowremoves the disks and leaves skeleton frames convenient for use as fuel.The disks are next tumbled for an hour (more orless) in atumbling-cylinder, analogous to that used for smoothing small castings,but which may be made much larger. This operation smooths the whole, andespecially the edges, if an y roughness resulted from the breaking ofthe few fibers of the wood. The disks are next vai nis-hed on both sidesand partially dried. I use for this varnish either the `ordinary shellacdissolved in alcohol, withlamp black added to giveit abody anda color,or acheaper coating, made by dissolving rosin in benzine or naphtha andadding a little lampblack. I prefer te apply this and to partially dryit thereafter by the means of a machine invented by one of myassistants, Levi S. Martin, and which will be described below, but othermeans maybe employed in any instance, if desired. I now tumble thenearly dried heads for a period varying from one to two or more hours,according` to their condition. They finish drying as they tumble andemerge evenly Varnished and evenly dried. They are now ready for use orshipment, and on being` put in use in the boxes and receiving theblackingand remaining;` in contact therewith for any period they suliferno sensible change.

None oi the tools or apparatus required in the above process or methodof manufacture seem to require drawings or minute description ,exceptthe varuishin gmachine referred to. This is so novel and so effective,and performs its work so rapidly and cheaply, and, withal so completelyavoids any Waste of the varnish uponY other objects, and even itsaccumulation in undue quantities on the edges of the heads, as to addvery materially to the economy which is so conspicuous in my method ofman ufacture.

I will brieily describe that machine by the aid ofthe dra-wings.

Figure lis a. vertical longitudinal section on line S S in Fig. 2, andFig. 2 is a plan view.

Similar letters of reference indica-te like parts in all the iigures.

B and C are rollers of vulcanized rubber mounted on shafts b and c andsupported. in open bearings in the trame-work of the machine, asrepresented. Each is provided with apulley, by the aid of which-it isturned by a belt from a driving-pulley below. B' and C are the drivenpulleys. B2 and C2 are the belts, the belt B2 being crossed.

l) is the pulley which gives motion to the whole. The shaft d, whichcarries the pulley D, may be turned by any convenient power'.

A is the ixed portion of the framing, and t is a part'adapted to slidefreely back and forward to a limited extent thereon. The roller B ismounted on the fixed part A and has no motion but simple rotation. Theroller C is' mounted on the sliding part et and slides with the latter.M M are springs adapted to press the sliding part a and its connectionstoward theV fixed part, as indicated. It may be ad-v j usted by means ofscrews m.

E and F are tanks adapted to contain varnish. They are supported on theframing, the tank E on the fixed framing Aand the tank F on the slidingframe a. Each is so mounted as to inclose the lower side of one of therollers, the tank E holding up varnish to coat the surface ofthe rollerB as it revolves, and the tank F performing` a similar office for theroller U.

G and Hare Scrapers adjusted by screws-Vg and Ina-s indicated, and eachadapted to scrape ythe surface of one of the rollers. The scraper G maybe adjusted to leave any given small thickness of varnish on the roll B,and the scraper H may be adjusted to leave a similar or a dierentthickness of varnish on the roller C. The heads are inserted one by onebetween the rolls on the upper side, either by hand or otherwise, andreceive a smooth and uniform coating from one or both. rolls as theypass between. They emerge on the lower side, and falling on the apron I(which runs around the drums K and L and may be of any length desired)they are slowly carried away, drying meanwhile, and are :dually dropped.

Having` now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by this patent, B, is asfollows:

The withindescribed method of manufacture of ends or heads for boxes andanalogous structures, the wood being steamed, sliced, seasoned, cut inshape, coated or filled with an insoluble varnish, and dried, smoothed,and finished in the order and by the means substantially as herein setforth.

nonAcE THAYER.

DENNIS CHASE.

